U.S. POLICY AND THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA

George Washington International Law Review, The, 2007 by Noyes, John E

16. See LOS Convention, supra note 1, arts. 192-237.

17. For an overview of the Convention's provisions respecting human rights, see Bernard H. Oxman, Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 36 COLUM. J. TRANSNAT'L L. 399 (1997).

18. See LOS Convention, supra note 1, arts. 279-99 & Annexes V-VIII.

19. See id. arts. 58, 78-79, 87.

20. See id. art. 153(3) & Annex III, art. 16.

21. See id. arts. 76-77 & Annex II.

22. See id. arts. 21(2), 194(3)(b), 211(6)(c), 217(2).

23. The phrase is George Kennan's. For Kennan's criticism of "legalism-moralism" as a basis for the conduct of foreign affairs, see GEORGE F. KENNAN, AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 1900-1950, at 95-103 (1951).

24. MEAD, supra note 6, at 246, 248.

25. See id. at 251.

26. Some reports indicated that the concerns of Convention critics may have tempered the enthusiasm with which the Bush administration lobbied for the Convention. see Jim Lobe, Right-Wing Republicans Sinking Law of the Sea, Again, INTER PRESS SERVICE, June 3, 2004, available at http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0603-07.htm. During 2007, however, the administration again signaled its support for U.S. acceptance of the Convention. See supra note 3.

27. Proliferation security Initiative, Sept. 4, 2003, reprinted in S. EXEC. REP. 108-10, at 165-66 (2004). For background on this initiative, see Michael Byers, Polking the High Seas: The Proliferation security Initiative, 98 Am. J. Int'l L. 526 (2004).

28. Environment and Public Works Comm. Hearing supra note 3, at 79 (statement of Frank Gaffney Jr., President and CEO, The Center for security Policy).

29. E.g., Armed Services Comm. Hearing, supra note 3, at 31-56 (statement of Hon. William H. Taft IV, Legal Adviser, Department of State); id. at 104-14 (statement of Rear Adm. William L. Schachte, Jr., U.S. Navy (ReL), Judge Advocate General Corps); Foreign Relations Comm. Hearing supra note 3, at 59-68 (statement of Rear Adm. William L. Schachte, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.), Judge Advocate General Corps); id. at 102-06 (statement of Admiral Michael G. Mullen, U.S. Navy, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of the Navy); Letter from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to The Hon. Joseph Biden, Jr., supra note 3.

30. See John E. Noyes, The United States, the Law of the Sea Convention, and Freedom of Navigation, 29 Suffolk Transnat'l L. REV. 1, 5-6, 23 (2005).

31. Articles 88, 141, and 301 of the Convention, which refer to the use of the oceans for peaceful purposes, do not contravene the right of self-defense preserved in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. See, e.g., Environment and Public Works Comm. Hearing, supra note 3, at 32 (statement of Prof. Bernard H. Oxman, University of Miami School of Law); id. at 77 (statement of William H. Taft IV, Legal Adviser, Department of State); Foreign Relations Comm. Hearing supra note 3, at 84 (statement of John F. Turner, Assistant secretary of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of State); Text of Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification, supra note 5, § 3(1); iee also U.N. Charter art. 103.